National

National and industry statistics for the previous five years will be updated Sept. 26 as part of BEA’s regular annual updates to gross domestic product and related estimates. Updates to state and local statistics will begin Sept. 27.

A blog from BEA Director Vipin Arora

Every year, usually in January, I feel absolutely committed to getting a better handle on my finances. All I want to understand—not just at the end of the year, but throughout the year—is exactly what is coming in, what is going out, and what I have left over. Yet I can never seem to calculate these “personal profits,” nor how far I am from the mythical financial goals I’m supposed to have. Maybe my struggles are why I find our estimates of corporate profits at BEA so remarkable.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis updated its prototype measures of economic well-being and growth today and for the first time released open-source code that allows users to tailor the charts and tables to meet their needs. 

The prototype measures package some of BEA’s headline statistics with data from other statistical agencies to spotlight trends in well-being and the drivers of economic growth.

Personal income increased $87.6 billion (0.4 percent at a monthly rate) in August. Disposable personal income (DPI)—personal income less personal current taxes— increased $46.6 billion (0.2 percent). Personal outlays—the sum of personal consumption expenditures (PCE), personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $86.0 billion (0.4 percent) and consumer spending increased $83.6 billion (0.4 percent). Personal saving was $794.1 billion and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 3.9 percent in August.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the second quarter of 2023, according to the “third” estimate. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 2.2 percent (revised). The increase in the second quarter primarily reflected increases in business investment, consumer spending, and state and local government spending that were partly offset by a decrease in exports. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.

Personal income increased $69.5 billion (0.3 percent at a monthly rate) in June. Disposable personal income (DPI)—personal income less personal current taxes— increased $67.5 billion (0.3 percent). Personal outlays—the sum of personal consumption expenditures, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $109.4 billion (0.6 percent) and consumer spending increased $100.4 billion (0.5 percent). Personal saving was $862.4 billion and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 4.3 percent in June.

At the end of September, BEA will update five years of U.S. gross domestic product and related statistics, as well as GDP statistics for industries and for each state.

These updates are part of a cycle the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis follows to continue refining its statistics as more information becomes available. The annual updates incorporate data that only become available yearly, such as from the Census Bureau’s annual surveys of manufacturers, merchant wholesale trade, and retail trade.

Personal income increased $107.2 billion, or 0.5 percent at a monthly rate, while consumer spending increased $185.0 billion, or 1.1 percent, in March. The increase in personal income primarily reflected an increase in compensation. The personal saving rate (that is, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income) was 6.2 percent in March, compared with 6.8 percent in February.